'Dinner Dress', March 1838

This portraitback to top

Robe of straw coloured velours épinglé over an under dress of white satin; the robe, which is open on each side as high as the knee, is trimmed in a most novel and graceful style with a white satin drapery bordered with gold fringe, it forms a cone, and is surmounted by a knot of straw-coloured satin ribbon. Pointed corsage draped horizontally in full deep folds at top; it is made excessively low, displaying the white satin one underneath. Short sleeve composed of a double bouffant, the one, the material of the dress, the other white satin; it is terminated by a blond lace ruffle of a single fall. Sleeve trimming and breast-knot of straw-coloured ribbon. The hair is parted on the forehead and ornamented with a gold bandeau. Head-dress; a scarlet velvet toque of an antique form, profusely ornamented with white ostrich feathers.

Events of 1838back to top

Current affairs

The Anti-Corn Law league is established in Manchester, led by Richard Cobden and John Bright, aiming to create a fully free-trade economy.
The People's Charter is published, demanding many constitutional amendments that would become central to future democratic reform, including universal male suffrage and secret ballots. Despite having one million signatures (and 5 million by 1848), the petition was rejected.
Slavery is completely abolished.

Art and science

Turner's The Fighting Temeraire is exhibited at the Royal Academy. The Temeraire, which had broken the line at the Battle of Trafalgar, was a reflection on the rapid changes of the industrial age. This was demonstrated this year when Isambard Brunel's Great Western crosses the Atlantic, in just fifteen days - a ship under sail could take a month.
The London-Birmingham railway is also completed, the line engineered by Robert Stephenson.

International

The first stage in the formation of independent Boer republics in South Africa, as the Republic of Natal is formed in South Africa, following the Boers defeat of the Matabele of Mzilikasi. This comes two years after the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the British-ruled colony of South Africa set out on the Great Trek, in search of their own independent state.
The Central American Federation, an experimental republic formed of several Latin states splits.

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